ABSTRACT
184The previous chapter, ‘Responding to youth offending’, explored the socio-historical construction of ‘youth justice’ in the United Kingdom and how youth justice responses have been influenced to different degrees at different times by socially-constructed definitions and explanations of ‘youth offending’. The chapter outlined the different philosophies/principles, systems, structures, strategies and practices that constitute the ‘youth justice’ developed to tackle youth offending. The chapter focused on two specific dichotomies that have underpinned youth justice objectives historically: care versus control and welfare versus justice. The chapter concluded with discussion of the hybrid nature of models of youth justice since the 1990s, influenced to different degrees in different countries by punitive approaches (following the ‘punitive turn’), practical risk management and protective ‘child-friendly justice’.
